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Our 2023 Haiku Competition is on now HERE.
WHO
Anyone in the world, of any age or background, may participate. Among members of the Society of Classical Poets, everyone including Advisory Board members may participate, if not involved in judging the contest. The winner, if not resident in the United States, must have a PayPal account or a bank that accepts US checks, in order to receive prize money.
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PRIZE
$100
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JUDGE
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WHEN
Now until August 15, 2022. Results to be announced August 30, 2022.
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WHERE
Post your entries in the Comments below.
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WHAT
Each competitor may submit up to three haiku of traditional form: three lines per poem with 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second, and 5 in the third. Entrants are recommended to conform to other traditional haiku requirements outlined HERE. They should be new poems, written since the closing of the 2021 haiku competition. Although this competition is held in summer, haiku dealing with any season are acceptable.
If you want coaching on haiku features, please read the examples and explanation before submitting your entries. Once entries are posted, they can be revised or withdrawn ONLY by making another Comment. This is permitted until the competition closes, but do take reasonable care to complete work to your satisfaction before you enter it. Please do not use the Comment area as your scratch pad. That is discourteous to other competitors, to interested readers, and to the judge and will disqualify you.
Entries that do not meet basic traditional haiku requirements may be deleted. Anyone who submits more than three entries will have ALL his or her entries disqualified, unless excess entries are clearly withdrawn by a later Comment.
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PAST WINNERS
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On the pale blue sky
Flocks of birds are writing poems
That clouds will erase.
Emory, this is the seventh haiku you have entered, although the limit is three. For ANY of your poems to be considered, please choose the best three, and reply here which ones you want to appear in the competition. Thank you.
On a pale blue sky
Flocks of birds are writing poems
That clouds will erase.
I would like to keep the following:
The warm spring sunshine
Awakens the infant seeds
Sprouts climb out of bed.
On the pale blue sky
Flocks of birds are writing poems
That clouds will erase.
Yellow butterflies
Flitting across green meadows
Like dancing sunshine.
The warm spring sunshine
Awakens the infant seeds
Sprouts climb out of bed.
On the pale blue sky
Flocks of birds are writing poems
That clouds will erase.
Yellow butterflies
Flitting across green meadows
Like dancing sunshine.
Thanks very much! I’m considering the above three haiku as your competition entries.
Hana of June 2022
(vs November 1987)
The road to Hana
Scented fruit stands on the way
What goes up comes down.
All the Gods fell out of the sky
Falling Into Earth
Earth Disappeared without the Sky Gods
Mississippi Into Amazon
Amazon into Nile
Nile into Danube One Earth now
I was mother’s helper
Now that She is Gone
Universe could Turn Purple and Die
God said to me “are you there?”
It is ok to be a person
and exist, talk, walk and speak”
I asked God “are you sure?”
Elvis, Did you really like us?
Well that was what the movie said
I learned a lot about you Thanks
James, you’ve entered four short poems, but the limit for the competition is three, and the entries need to be in traditional haiku form. Please reply here if you would like to withdraw any of your above entries, so that whatever haiku you might wish to enter can be considered for the competition. Thanks!
I think people submitting more than three haiku should be one of the disqualification test. There’s no need telling them to correct their inability to adhere to instruction.
You are quite right that there is no need for me to tell a person to follow the competition rules. But when I did this more than a month ago, I gave notice to everyone that I am taking these rules seriously. Since that time, several poets have corrected themselves–and we have fewer poets than last year who will be disqualified for submitting too many haiku. I try to provide a pleasant opportunity for us all, including those who didn’t understand some things at first. Thanks for your haiku and your contribution to the discussion!
Okay, ma. I can understand you quite well. It’s not easy judging these numerous haiku. Well done, ma.
Sea of clouds, still goes,
like the men walking, because
life heats up the quiz.
Ripe grapes they harvest,
carving fates – the best taste.
Wine dates, human jest.
Korean summer
Hot, sticky, humid, sauna
Tropical evening
My morning coffee
Cup of heaven in my cup
Black as hell itself
My love came in a dream
She must have been an angel
Sent to save my life
Perched on pergolas
on which the pristine snow falls
parakeets quiver
The robin red-breast
is the bird that announces
Yuletide is coming
Nothing better than
a ‘doppio espresso’
on a winter morn
The Morning Star dims.
Hail the rosy face of dawn.
A mad hare capers.
Skyscrapers in bloom.
Traffic connecting the dots.
Rain clouds cleanse the air.
the cold winter breeze
recalls the sound of her voice
her sad smile lingers
recalling my past
how cold cruel winter descends
upon youthful joy
my life travels time
with the seasons passing by
with no turning back
Hidden in a hole.
Majestic tarantula,
unfurls hairy limbs.
Grains of windblown sand
marching in dune formations.
Stars swarm the night sky.
Nature’s library –
deep of night demands silence…
a beetle goes crunch!
Still, glassy water
erases the horizon,
blending sea and sky.
Riding ceaseless waves
like spinning wheels of potters,
we’re ever-shifting.
Dotted eyelashes
gaze towards tumbling snowflakes—
Dandelions, blown.
muggy summer night
restless sleeper on the porch
old guard dog’s deep sigh
Delicious smell permeates
An expectant hush.
Hard white hot sunlight
Filters through amber curtains
In beige gold dapples.
Last crow of evening
Swings on the telephone line
Cawing’ at sunset.
A faded red rose.
A tear streams down my grieved face,
It can’t revive her.
A cold wintry night.
Our lives is like this snowflake:
A passing presence.
I wanted to write this second comment in order to revise one of the haikus I submitted; in fact, I have just realised that I made a grammar mistake in the second haiku. Here is the correction of the second haiku:
A cold wintry night.
Our lives are like this snowflake:
A passing presence.
Thank you in advance for your understanding.
Thanks for your courteous correction!
Crepe myrtle bursts forth–
A riot of small flowers
In pink explosion.
Good morning, ma. I forgot to tell you, I made a mistake in one of my submitted haiku which I have corrected. Just a word. I changed “children” to “students”. So, I had to submit the same three haiku again with only the one-word correction making the difference in the second one.
Please, ma, disregard the first submission and regard the second one.
Thank you.
I have noticed your revision, and the second version is counted as one of your three entries.
Daffodils spout sun
Into a smiling blue sky–
Like waving sunshine.
as a leaf bud
so is the joy of ending
life in a summer
Haiku You (or In Bad Taste)
On the beach: rain drops
splash my lips and stretched out tongue—
Splat! A gull dropping.
places of childhood –
the scent of forget-me-nots
stronger and stronger
early morning fog –
a path to somewhere filled with
a rustle of leaves
grandparents’ house loft –
the silence of deep autumn
in the spider webs